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> It's really none of your business what someone does with their own money. Then don't you think people shouldn't have so much money that they can literally co

by nawgz 5y ago

> It's really none of your business what someone does with their own money. Then don't you think people shouldn't have so much money that they can literally control society? What a facile stance.

robonerd 5y ago
If controlling twitter means literally controlling society, then I hope he crashes and burns that whole affair. That much power should never be concentrated into a single corporation.
- nawgz 5y ago
  I'm more talking about lobbying and the pernicious effects of a legal system modifiable by the elites. You can surely see that the rich and elite in society have written tax laws, property (IP, copyright) laws, employment laws, and complicated everything enough that the legal system is pretty directly pay to win. I think the online giant platforms are another problematic avenue of control, I don't object to that characterization, but I'm really saying that saying "other's money is none of your business" can't be a good-faith statement in a world where money can control livelihoods and laws with such ease.
  - sgjohnson 5y ago
    > but I'm really saying that saying "other's money is none of your business" can't be a good-faith statement in a world where money can control livelihoods and laws with such ease. It absolutely can. I have no problem with the fact that money can buy politicians. I have a problem with the fact that politicians can be bought in the first place. Which are 2 completely different issues. If you had loads of money, you’d play the game too.
    - lovich 5y ago
      Then we’re “playing the game” by caring how he spends his money and trying to use social pressure to force changes in law. You can’t simultaneously say Musk should be able to do what he wants because he can, and then tell others that they need to behave differently. Well, you can, but it’d be massively hypocritical and an opinion that’s easily dismissed
sgjohnson 5y ago
Musk doesn't have enough money to literally control the society.
erulabs 5y ago
Musk doesn't control society, neither does twitter. If electrifying the cars of the western world affords someone the insane wealth required to... buy an internet forum... that seems like a fairly reasonable level of control over capital allocation to me.
- nawgz 5y ago
  I never stated anything about "complete control of society", I am merely making the point that money is essentially an abstraction of power and that modern society does nothing to prevent that, maybe it even is built to amplify that. Accordingly, to say "it's none of your business what others do with their money" is to say "it's none of your business how others use their power", and if you can't see how it's pretty directly everyone's business what everyone else does in our shared world, I think you and I understand ethics a little differently. Edit: parent comment cleanly and completely changed due to my response, what a world. Cowards.
- glouwbug 5y ago
  So what you're trying to say is that Trump Social should clone a load balancer or two and migrate to Postgres

by nawgz 5y ago

> It's really none of your business what someone does with their own money. Then don't you think people shouldn't have so much money that they can literally control society? What a facile stance.

robonerd 5y ago

If controlling twitter means literally controlling society, then I hope he crashes and burns that whole affair. That much power should never be concentrated into a single corporation.

nawgz 5y ago
I'm more talking about lobbying and the pernicious effects of a legal system modifiable by the elites. You can surely see that the rich and elite in society have written tax laws, property (IP, copyright) laws, employment laws, and complicated everything enough that the legal system is pretty directly pay to win. I think the online giant platforms are another problematic avenue of control, I don't object to that characterization, but I'm really saying that saying "other's money is none of your business" can't be a good-faith statement in a world where money can control livelihoods and laws with such ease.
- sgjohnson 5y ago
  > but I'm really saying that saying "other's money is none of your business" can't be a good-faith statement in a world where money can control livelihoods and laws with such ease. It absolutely can. I have no problem with the fact that money can buy politicians. I have a problem with the fact that politicians can be bought in the first place. Which are 2 completely different issues. If you had loads of money, you’d play the game too.
  - lovich 5y ago
    Then we’re “playing the game” by caring how he spends his money and trying to use social pressure to force changes in law. You can’t simultaneously say Musk should be able to do what he wants because he can, and then tell others that they need to behave differently. Well, you can, but it’d be massively hypocritical and an opinion that’s easily dismissed

sgjohnson 5y ago

Musk doesn't have enough money to literally control the society.

erulabs 5y ago

Musk doesn't control society, neither does twitter. If electrifying the cars of the western world affords someone the insane wealth required to... buy an internet forum... that seems like a fairly reasonable level of control over capital allocation to me.

nawgz 5y ago
I never stated anything about "complete control of society", I am merely making the point that money is essentially an abstraction of power and that modern society does nothing to prevent that, maybe it even is built to amplify that. Accordingly, to say "it's none of your business what others do with their money" is to say "it's none of your business how others use their power", and if you can't see how it's pretty directly everyone's business what everyone else does in our shared world, I think you and I understand ethics a little differently. Edit: parent comment cleanly and completely changed due to my response, what a world. Cowards.
glouwbug 5y ago
So what you're trying to say is that Trump Social should clone a load balancer or two and migrate to Postgres